“Education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.”
What we Offer
“The liberty of the child should have as its limit the collective interest of the group.”
Stargazer Elementary is an educational program designed to supplement homeschooling and other alternative educational paths. Our classroom is prepared to support meaningful work, real responsibility, and the balance between independence and interdependence.
Our initially small cohort allows for close observation, individual guidance, and attuned support. We are committed to the freedom and discipline Montessori education requires: slowing down, observing carefully, and treating children with enthusiasm and deep respect.
We serve the children by connecting them to the environment and their own best work.
Mission Statement
We aim to create a decolonized, anti racist, anti biased space that connects learners to the world around them with thoughtfulness, compassion and joy.
We promote skillful adaptation, meaningful connection to work, and community building by meeting children where they are with enthusiasm, grace, and love.
We work to help learners develop a deep understanding of systems: how their own brains and bodies work, how to work collaboratively with others, how to care for the other creatures and materials in their environments.
We acknowledge the fact that children are an oppressed social class throughout history and the world, and seek to empower learners.
We recognize learners’ childhood as a process and see them for all of their potentiality with the intent to assist them in the creation of the self.
“No social problem is as universal as the oppression of the child”
Meet your Guides:
Olive Avina (Co-Founder)
Olive Avina holds a Diploma in 6-12 from SIMS in Mesa Arizona and an Adolescent Masters from SMTC in Sydney Australia. They Co-founded Stargazer after finding their passion in creating spaces that nurture resilience, and center hard work and skillful adaptation. They believe that work builds the individual and that to truly grow into themselves children deserve the opportunity to fully explore their connection to work and themselves. They are passionate about creating equitable, safe, and appropriate environments for learning, work, and cooperation to occur spontaneously.
Kai Mercury (Co-Founder)
Outside the classroom, Kai enjoys using their hands to craft and care for beautiful practical objects, paint with watercolors, sing, and write. They share their home with a talkative German Shepherd named Lola (when she acquiesces to the odd human custom of living indoors).
“Now the educator, or in general anyone, wishing to educate children must purge himself of that state of error that puts him in a position of falsity towards the child.”
Kai’s credentials include a Masters in Education from Loyola Maryland, an AMI Elementary Diploma from MNW, two decades of experience working in the field of education, and a deep trust in the capacities of children who are treated with respect and deep understanding.
Kai is committed to cultivating curiousity and joyful collaboration. They especially love helping children better understand how their own and other brains work, and making terrible puns.
Growing up in Juneau, Alaska, Kai was privileged to attend Montessori Borealis, a public Montessori Program, in its early years.